Director of Technology and Innovation

• Are you ready to further your career as a key leader in the specialty chemicals industry with impressive growth plans?
• Do you enjoy leading, motivating, and developing an R&D team?
• Will you integrate technical leadership, innovation, and operational excellence to drive growth and maintain Pilot's competitive edge in the chemical industry?

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Pilot Chemical Company is a privately held, family-owned global specialty chemical company with a 72-year legacy of innovation and customer focus. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH with other locations in Texas, New Jersey, and Mexico, Pilot combines big-company capabilities with the agility of a medium-sized business to deliver tailored surfactant technologies and EPA-registered biocide solutions. Known for quality, reliability, and a broad portfolio, it serves both consumer and industrial markets as a preferred innovation partner and solutions provider.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING

Reporting to the VP Growth & Innovation, the Director of Technology & Innovation oversees Pilot's Technology Group, managing a team of 5 - 8 direct reports and a total team of ~20 with an annual budget of $3.5M. The role ensures alignment of technical resources with corporate strategy, leads innovation, ushers new products to launch, maintains technical capabilities, and acts as the recently renovated Sharonville Technology Center site manager. The responsibilities of the Director will also include:

Technical Leadership & Execution

• Leading technical portfolio initiatives, introducing new product pipelines and product applications, and aligning resources with strategic objectives.
• Serving as a thought leader for innovative & technology integration into progressive business strategies.
• Overseeing intellectual property strategy and product development from conception to launch

Team Leadership

• Upholding Pilot’s dedication to safety with ownership of your own safety and that of others in the organization.
• Managing all hiring, career development, and training activities for the group.
• Building a high-performing, collaborative team.
• Creating an agile culture of innovation and agility that enables the organization to value individuals & interactions over process, valuing working products over documentation, valuing customer collaboration over negotiation and valuing responsiveness to change over following a plan.

Process & Operational Execution

• Establishing a lean, efficient front-end process for new product ideation, evaluation and prioritization.
• Polishing existing alpha and beta testing approaches to accommodate higher value products, coordinating with cross functional groups to effectuate efficient product launches.
• Establishing a screening tool to evaluate all potential new opportunities against established objective criteria, underpinning decision making with good data and data analytics.
• Managing the Unified Project Process (UPP) pipeline to drive growth through specialty chemical products.
• Providing technical support for internal and external customers including product development, manufacturing troubleshooting, training, technology evaluation, method development, engineering review and management and specification development.
• Documenting and disseminating foundational knowledge through white papers, reports, and training.
• Upholding compliance with Responsible Care® Management System and ISO standards.

Market and Customer-Facing Responsibilities

• Identifying new markets and emerging market trends.
• Collaborating with Commercial, Marketing, Manufacturing and other internal teams to prioritize high-impact projects.
• Developing solutions or new molecules to meet customer and market needs and communicate outcomes in a coherent and compelling manner.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• PhD in Chemistry or MS in Materials Science with 15 years in the chemical industry including portfolio management experience, strong leadership and technical expertise, deep industry knowledge, and a passion for innovation.
• Expertise in surfactants, lubricant additives, and biocides with advanced coursework in surface science preferred.
• Experience managing a new product development portfolio.
• Product development expertise in surfactants and/or biocides.
• Understands value-generation through problem solving using innovation and technology.
• Knowledge of Excel, Access, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Structured Query Language (SQL), and relational databases is required. Experience with systems implementation, functional specification writing, and technical aspects of customized development is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading and developing a team.
• Travel expectations of 15-20% to conferences and key customer visits.

KEY PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, including high emotional intelligence. Collaboration and cross-functional communication required.
• Effective at managing and leading change.
• Ability to manage, motivate, and develop a team.
• Strategic thinking.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Innovative and growth-oriented mindset.

THE PAYOFF

• Pilot is more than a workplace… it’s a place to make your mark in an organization that values innovation, collaboration, and impact.
• In this position, you’ll play a pivotal role in a company that’s committed to excellence, agility, and the development of its people.
• Pilot is transforming ideas into impactful realities. This is an exciting opportunity with a compelling compensation and benefits package where you’ll play a critical role in their future growth.

DIVERSITY/INCLUSION STATEMENT

Gilman Partners is committed to strengthening leadership teams and elevating the talent in our communities—and that means all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, ability, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, or national origin. You don’t have to meet every qualification in this job description to apply. If you’re drawn to the position and believe your experience makes you a good fit, we encourage you to reach out.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

This is a 100% onsite role at Pilot’s Sharonville Technical Center in Cincinnati.